Srinivasan, J.

The facts which are not in dispute can be briefly stated as follows :- The Buckingham and Carnatic Mills is more than a century old and it has been working at Perambur in the city of Madras for the last 119 years. Till recently, it has been one of the biggest textiles mills in the whole of Asia, having an installed spindleage capacity of 88, 208 spindles, of which 79, 072 were utilised. It had an installed loom capacity of 2074 looms out of which 1816 looms were utilised. It has a "Dye House" or the "Processing House" and a Central Power Station. It forms part of a Company by name Binny Limited, incorporated under the Companies Act in 1969 by amalgamation of Binny Group of Companies comprising Buckingham and Carnatic Co. Ltd., Bangalore Woollen, Cotton and Silk Mills Company (BWM), Binny & Co. Ltd., and Binny Engineering Works Limited together with two associate companies viz., Madura Company Private Limited and the Ganges Transport and Trading Co. Ltd. Their activities are broadly organised under four divisions viz., the Textile Division comprising B & C Mills at Madras and BW Mills (BWM) at Bangalore and a silk mill at Bangalore, the Engineering Division